The Seaport Museum

Bad news for the American Folk Art Museum. The Wall Street Journal reports they will have to give up more than 200 artworks promised to their collection. The works were promised gifts from Ralph Esmerian, owner of the high-end jewelry business Fred Leighton, who is now facing bankruptcy and a six-year jail term for wire fraud. The collection was used as collateral in a loan he’s now defaulted on. [Wall Street Journal]

The Seaport Museum received a half million dollars in the mail through an anonymous donation. The museum suffered 22 million in damages thanks to Hurricane Sandy, so the money is much needed. [NYCReconnects]

Editor Joanne McNeil is no longer working at Rhizome. The organization has not yet put out a call to fill the position. [auto-reply]

Terrible art will be in New York taxi cabs soon. Starting Wednesday and running through February 5th, the Art Production Fund will sponsor a 30 second clip from the Sigur Ros video made by Ryan McGinley. The piece features his friend Jessica Tang, wearing only a gold wig and a t-shirt, skipping barefoot amidst the streets of New York. Can’t wait. [NYTimes]

Buzzfeed Founder Jonah Peretti is by far the most successful ex-art worlder we have to brag about. (He was a former R&D Director at Eyebeam.) The company now has a 34 million cash hoard thanks to VC funding and Peretti promises to spend it on growing his company. This article mentions all this, by means of framing a conversation about how both Buzzfeed and Tumblr believe in ads that behave more like content. That wraps icky self promotion and thinly labeled ads in a very attractive package, but let’s face it: targeted advertising is a way better experience than being subjected to the random crap TV throws at us. [Paid Content]